You can look at the numbers forever, but, at some point, you?óÔé¼Ôäóve just got to get in the car and drive it. After qualifying, maybe I felt it wasn?óÔé¼Ôäót the right way to go, but we had a look at how the race could have gone, and there were definitely some positives.

Mainly, I needed less fuel than the high-downforce cars, because I was carrying less drag, and, most importantly, I had the potential to pick off cars on the straights, because of my top-speed advantage.

That wasn?óÔé¼Ôäót guaranteed, of course, because we didn?óÔé¼Ôäót get to see how the car would be affected in the slipstream through the corners, but we saw in the race that it was pretty much a stalemate out there. I?óÔé¼Ôäód like to think that if I?óÔé¼Ôäód stayed in the race, I could have done some passing.Lewis Hamilton

He added he’s put his collision with Massa behind him and is ready to move on to the next race at Singapore next week:

It?óÔé¼Ôäós one of those experiences that happens in motor racing sometimes. It?óÔé¼Ôäós always so disappointing, because your adrenalin is really flowing and then, immediately, it gets cut short right when you?óÔé¼Ôäóre in the heat of battle.

But, like I say, these things happen ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ it?óÔé¼Ôäós not the first time my race has ended on the first lap, and it probably won?óÔé¼Ôäót be the last, unfortunately.

In bad situations ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ and they?óÔé¼Ôäóve happened to me before in my career ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ you need to soak up all the lessons that need learning. You absorb that information, put the bad experience to one side, use the benefits and just move on.

I got up on Monday morning and I was already focused on the next race, improving the car, and closing in on the world championship. You can?óÔé¼Ôäót dwell on the negatives ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ we are still in a good position, and we need to capitalise on that.Lewis Hamilton

29 comments on Hamilton: “I could have done some passing”

He could definitely have done some great passing ! But unfortunately for him and f1 racing fans , he took a poor judgement against Massa , he should have waited until one the straights to attack Massa.Monza could have been the greatest race of the season had Lewis not retired !! Hopefully no more poor judgements by Lewis , and most importantly Mclaren will give him and Jenson a very improved car for Singapore onwards.

I have to agree with you. He has pulled some great overtaking moves.. but I really couldn’t see him overtaking Fernando at Monza in front of the tifosi. Lets not forget Hamilton only pulled one overtaking move on Fernando so far, and that was with the help of a Toro Rosso.

i did some hard thinking about it and thought how big a challenge that would have been for Lewis,
after watching Alonso loose traction while following Button whenever he got close going though the last corner,
the timing would of had to be absolutely spot on, by just staying outside the turbulent air but still accelerating, you needed to get passed and in front on the straight because if it was Button he would have out braked you with the amount of down force he was carrying.
he may have passed Massa through out right speed but Alonso that would have been a hard call.
was a shame alright we didn’t get to see what if.

Singapore looks to be a very good race. Lewis will be more attacking there and he ll want to compensate for these 12 lost points.
Red Bull is a mush appproved car from last year and we might not see the brake issue which haunted them. Hmm… but Vettel’s brake stuck in MOnza, dont they… ?

The fuel point is crucial. Let’s not forget that Button was told to change his fuel setting late in the race to Yellow G 4 and fell back. There is simply no way Button could have consumed the same fuel as Alonso or Hamilton in the race. Footnote: Remember that Yellow G 3 was the high consumption setting Hamilton used in Valencia. As for passing, he would have passed the Ferraris into Lesmos. They went in side by side. How many times have we seen people get passed after screwing up that chicane going into Lesmos? I wouldn’t call it academic, but there is every reason to believe that with his 341kph trap speed, by far the highest of the lead pack, he would not have had a solid go at them into Variante, the Parabolica, and turn 1.

More to the point, as the two set ups were equal on pace, Button’s fuel disadvantage would have meant him falling back behind Hamilton, and we would not have been talking about the “brave gamble,” which was a “rubish” story line from the beginning. Rather, we would be talking about Hamilton’s “brave gamble,” or something.

I’m having difficulty picking a way through the hypotheticals here, but if there’s some dispute over which McLaren driver was doing the gambling, it was definitely Button. Fourteen kilometres an hour is a heck of a straight-line speed deficit around Monza. One mistake at the Parabolica or Rettifilio and Alonso would have been on him.

I have not been a big fan of Lewis , but having now watched him a few years , fan or no fan , he is a really top class driver. Still a few rough edges , like the move on Massa , but overall he has definitely got the edge on most other drivers when it comes down to raw driving skill. Although unlikely , I look forward to seeing him jump teams in the future , not saying anything wrong driving for McLaren , far from it , but it would just add more excitement.